Servicing a used car

What to expect after buying a car on the secondhand market

Buying a used car is a risk, and everyone knows it. In most cases, when buying a used car, there’s no way to check its entire service history; at best, with the help of specialists, you can only pin down its current technical condition. But then another question arises: how do you protect yourself as much as possible from the consequences of poor maintenance by the previous owner?

You need to be ready for the possibility that, if the car has no service book, or has come from another city or even another country, you’ll have to start its service history “from zero.” This article sets out a checklist of steps you absolutely need to take right after buying a used car whose service history you don’t actually know anything about.

Either way, experience shows it’s far more worthwhile, from every angle, to spend the time and money once to bring a newly bought car up to scratch, and then drive for months, maybe years, without any trouble, rather than dealing with only the critical problems as they come up — which, in the end, usually leaves the car “falling apart.”